Technical Field
The invention relates to a method for reducing spasticity and a computer-readable medium utilizing such method.
Related Art
Spasticity is a condition in which there is abnormally high muscle tone (hypertonus) resulted from hyperactive reflex of muscle and in turn means violent and involuntary muscular contraction, accompanied by increased tendon reflex activity and hypertonia. In America, there are about 450 thousand persons suffering from spasticity, and the population is increased in an incremental rate of 10 thousand persons per year. Spasticity is usually caused by the injury of the area of the brain or spinal cord which controls the voluntary movement, such as cerebral trauma and serious brain damage due to car accident, battery, or fall from heights, or cerebrovascular disease (e.g., ischemic brain damage or brain palsy), or may occur secondary to multiple sclerosis (MS), a spinal cord injury, or certain metabolic disorders.
The conventional treatments of spasticity can be classified into three categories. The first category of the treatment of spasticity is to treat with medicine, such as baclofen, diazepam, tizanidine hydrochloride tablets, or injection of phenol drugs (i.e., phenol nerve block). Recently, injecting botulinum toxin to the affected region is also found to be effective in treating spasticity. The second category is surgery, such as selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR), tendon lengthening (i.e., partial tenotomy, marginal myotomy) or implantation of a drug pump. For example, people who suffer from severe spasticity can receive intrathecal baclofen therapy (ITB therapy) to implant a baclofen pump under the skin to deliver liquid form of baclofen directly to the disordered region of the spinal cord so as to keep a high concentration of baclofen at the targeted region and also avoid side effects resulted from high-dose oral baclofen therapy. The third category is to ameliorate spastic symptoms through physical therapies, such as stretch exercise, strength training, endurance training, range of motion exercise, joint passive motion, or reflex inhibition posture.
However, there is some deficiency in each of those abovementioned treatments of spasticity. For drug treatment, it usually accompanied with side effects and increases the burden of some organs of patients, such as liver, stomach, or gastrointestinal tract. Long-term treatment of drugs also increases the tendency for patient to over rely on the drugs. For surgical treatment, the deficiency includes allergic reactions to anesthesia, postoperative complications, infections, recurrence of symptoms, or damages to other nerves. More importantly, it may cause fear and psychological pressure of patients and also make patients to worry about the recovery situation after surgery and the possibility of recurrence. For the treatment of physical therapies, although it may help to ameliorate spastic symptoms, it still takes a long time to show a perceptible improvement.
As shown in FIG. 22, in the rat model of neuropathic pain provided by Ronen Shechter et al. (Ronen Shechter et al. (2013, August), Conventional and Kilohertz-frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation Produces Intensity- and Frequency-dependent Inhibition of Mechanical Hypersensitivity in a Rat Model of Neuropathic Pain, ANESTHESIOLOGY, 119(2), 422-32), the rats with spinal cord injuries were received an electrical stimulation with frequency of 50 Hz to 10 kHz for thirty minutes (80% MoT, constant current, current intensity 0.6 mA-0.7 mA). The paw withdraw thresholds started to drop at 30 minutes after end of the electrical stimulation. Also, it is noted that the paw withdraw thresholds returned to pre-stimulation level at 5 days after the last electrical stimulation. In other words, such conventional electrical stimulation did not provide a long term effect. Patients may have to receive such electrical stimulation for every 4-5 days (or even several times for one day) so as to continuously ameliorate the symptoms caused by neural hypersensitivity. However, such treatment will make patients more and more uncomfortable and also increase the inconvenience of the treating course.
Therefore, it is important to provide a method for reducing spasticity which can effectively ameliorate spastic symptoms with long term effects, without the side effects caused by drugs, and also reduce the possibility of infection caused by operation.